3 unlikely pairings for the NHL draft
The NHL draft will begin Friday night, with plenty of options on the table for all 30 teams.
With countless mock drafts floating around the internet, there are certain scenarios that, appealing as they may be, just don't quite make sense.
Here, then, are three unlikely landing spots for big-name players prior to the NHL draft, based primarily on the needs of the teams in question.
Patrick Laine, Toronto Maple Leafs
Patrick Laine believes he should be taken first overall at the 2016 NHL Draft, and that he can become the next Alex Ovechkin within five years. While he could very well become the most prolific goal-scorer to emerge from this year’s selection process, Laine is not a fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Brendan Shanahan and Co. worked long and hard to “win” the draft lottery, and before them stands the opportunity to select center Auston Matthews, the expected cornerstone for whatever future success is to come in the so-called center of the hockey universe.
Skilled, goal-scoring wingers are an important component in the winning formula, but an elite talent down the middle is essential. Case in point, every Stanley Cup winner since the 2005 lockout has featured at least one franchise player down the middle: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews, Anze Kopitar, Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Getzlaf, and Eric Staal.
Laine will probably be the next Finnish sensation to hit the NHL, but like a legendary countryman before him (Teemu Selanne), he should get his start in Winnipeg, not Toronto.
Matthew Tkachuk, Edmonton Oilers
Matthew Thachuk enters the draft as the second-ranked North American skater, fresh off scoring the overtime winner for the OHL’s London Knights in the 2016 Memorial Cup final.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound left winger is the son of Keith Tkachuk, who scored 538 goals in 1,201 career NHL games, and the belief is the younger Tkachuk has the potential to be even better than his old man.
His stock entering the draft is sky high, as recently reported by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet:
Matthew Tkachuk is “gaining momentum,” as one executive put it, days after the London Knight bulled his way through the Memorial Cup. You know the NHL’s preoccupation with skilled power forwards, and he certainly qualifies.
Conventional wisdom is Auston Matthews goes first to Toronto, with Patrik Laine following to Winnipeg. I think we all expected Jesse Puljujarvi to go third, but it sure sounds like Tkachuk is pushing his way into the picture.
Tkachuk, however, is not what the Edmonton Oilers need at this point in their perpetual rebuild. For one, they have a franchise left winger in Taylor Hall, as well as glaring and immediate needs on the blue line. On top of that, the rest of their top six is littered with talented young forwards
As such, Edmonton would be better off trading the pick or using it on a defenseman like Mikhail Sergachev, Olli Juolevi, or Jakob Chychrun.
Jesse Puljujarvi, Columbus Blue Jackets
As Friedman mentions above, Finnish forward Jesse Puljujarvi is expected to go as high as third in this year's draft, a spot that currently belongs to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Puljujarvi's upside is high, and some believe he could turn out to be a better all-around player than Laine.
The problem for Columbus is they're loaded with prospects at the wing, many of whom were significant contributors to the Blue Jackets' AHL squad's recent championship run. What the Jackets lack following last season's Ryan Johansen-for-Seth Jones trade is a true No. 1 center, a piece that could be landed by way of a trade involving the third overall pick.
Columbus is believed to be receiving "aggressive offers" for the selection, and if the price is right, they might be well served by taking a serious look.
John Tortorella was not hired to coach a rebuilding team, and the Blue Jackets need a star down the middle. Trading this pick, and thereby passing on Puljujarvi, could do the trick.